“I might buy one player in the summer.” What a staggering statement for Arsene to make considering the season we have just had. Arsene is supposed to “know” so how can he think that we only need one player ? Hopefully it is to boost the confidence of the team before our remaining fixtures and he actually has several players lined up! Unfortunately this is unlikely if previous pre-seasons are anything to go by.

I have already written one article a few weeks ago, bemoaning the fact that we didn't bid for Torres at the beginning of the season as I think we lack any real quality in front of goal. But we are also short in other areas of the pitch. One way to measure how strong a team we have is to compare our squad with the other ‘big three’. Would any of their team improve ours for instance?

When comparing our squad with Liverpool’s then, most would probably agree that Gerrard, Torres and Babel would improve our team but you could equally argue that Sagna, Clichy and Fabregas would improve theirs. So on our style of play and performances you could argue that we are more than a match for Liverpool. This also seems to be born out by our results against them this season. In the Premier League we should have won at Anfield and were denied a penalty at the Emirates that would have won us the game. In the Champions League we all know dodgy decisions put us out. So our squad/team probably have the edge on Liverpool’s, which our relative positions in the league seems to confirm.

However, when you compare our squad with Chelsea and Man Utd, they are miles ahead. They would also be improved by Sagna, Clichy and Fabregas, but look at the players they have that would improve our squad.

From Utd any of these players would improve our team; Van de Sar, Vidic, Ferdinand, Ronaldo, Anderson, Rooney and Tevez (and possibly Hargreaves and Saha). From Chelsea; Cech, Cudicini, Makelele, Essien, J Cole, Drogba, Kalou, Terry and Anelka.

Both teams have better central defenders than us and much, much stronger options up front, Now we all know that they can afford these large squads and the salaries that go with them, either because of a bigger fan base or a Russian billionaire. However, I thought that the purpose of moving to the Emirates was so that we can compete financially. We fans are paying top prices and expect to watch top players. Arsene has done wonders with very little outlay and I see no harm in still trying to find bargain buys, but what is wrong with also buying quality players with the money available.

I’m paying £1250 a season and I expect to watch better quality players than Eboue, Gilberto, Hoyte and Adebayor (I know he’s had his moments this season but to me he is not a top quality striker and he certainly wouldn’t improve any of the other top sides’ strike forces). We have been embarrassed twice this season playing teams that just were not up to the job. (Spurs in the Carling Cup and Utd in the FA Cup).

Chelsea and Man Utd both started the season poorly which gave us the chance to top the table for so long. I don’t think they will both mess up again next season and if we don’t strengthen our squad considerably we will end up playing catch up all season. George Graham couldn't adjust to having to compete in the transfer market (apart from the odd bung!) and we started losing our way from being a winning team. I just hope Arsene doesn’t take Arsenal the same way.

P.S. This is written before the Man Utd game. You never know we could beat them off the park and Adebayor could score a hat trick! We live in hope!